


A Strange Encounter

by Marvel_ous_fan



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Doctor Strange - Freeform, F/M, Marvel - Freeform, Marvel Universe, Stephen Strange - Freeform, dr. strange - Freeform, marvel fan fiction, mcu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-06-26 09:55:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15660855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvel_ous_fan/pseuds/Marvel_ous_fan
Summary: You’re just an average girl in the Big Apple but one day everything changes when you meet a very interesting... or rather strange man at a bar.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was imagining the bar from Greys Anatomy of that helps you visualize the scene better :)

You sat at the dimly lit bar, slowly sipping your drink as your friend sitting to your right rambled on about her work day at the hospital. You wished you could have been at home but this was not the case seeing she dragged you out of your apartment claiming you don't get out enough. The only reason she ever brought you to the bar with her was so you could meet cute doctors off duty together, you weren't that into the scene seeing that most the doctors who showed up were either married or highly unattractive, but you went to support her, and to listen to her daily stories. You knew that listening to her was important but you couldn't help but drift off as she was talking, thinking about anything other than her daily rant of the day in the life of a nurse. There was nothing you found more boring than listening to her ramble on about the calls she had to deal with, the blood she had to draw, and the charts she had to fill. Doctor stuff was not your thing, so you sat there giving the occasional nod and "mhmm" noises when necessary, trying to act like you were listening.

As you were sitting there dazing off a tall man sat in the seat next to you, completely unnoticed by you in your current state of daydreaming. You noticed that she was finally coming to the end of her stories and you felt a sense of relief.

"...Isn't that just like, the strangest thing?" she asked, bringing her story about the man with a missing finger that she had done the blood work for.

"Yeah" you sighed sarcastically, "that's sooo strange."

As you said this the man who had sat in the seat to your left turned to face you and your friend. "Sorry what is so me?" he asked with a smirk on face.

You looked over to your left and took in the man sitting to your left. You were shocked not only by him intruding on your conversation but also how handsome he was. It was not often that you actually saw a man as good looking as him in the bar. Your friend on the other hand did not notice as she was too busy ordering another drink.  
You were speechless, but you had to think of something to say, and fast. "Oh I'm sorry, is your name strange?" you asked with a sarcastic tone.

"No actually it's Stephen, Strange is my..."

"Middle name?" you asked as you interrupted him, trying to jump on the very strange pick up line you thought he was trying to pull.

"No, actually it's my last name." he stated with a subtle laugh to his words.

"Oh" you were slightly embarrassed by your sudden jumping to conclusions. "So, Stephen Strange, what bri..."

"Actually it's Doctor." 

You looked at him with a confused face, "What?"  
"Well it's Dr. Stephen Strange, but please continue." he interrupted with a sense of pride and arrogance in his voice and a smirk that you couldn't tell if you found attractive or not.

"Okay... well DOCTOR Stephen Strange, what bring you here tonight?" you asked, for once actually interested in what a person in this bar had to say.

"Well seeing that i'm a doctor, I would think it would be obvious what I am doing at a bar across the street from the hospital I work at. The better question is what are YOU doing here. I haven't seen you wondering around the hospital, trust me," He looked you up and down, holding his breath as he took in the curves that your tight dress revealed, "I would remember a... face like yours." He looked back up at your face, giving you a wink as he took a swig of his beer.

You were taken aback by his forwardness and his quick witty response. You couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle as you felt your face get hot, embarrassed by the amount you must be blushing right now. "Well thank you for that very forward compliment" you said sarcastically, "and yes you are correct, I don't work at the hospital, actually it's my friend Bianca who does."

Bianca turned around at the mention of her name. Her eyes widened as she took in the man that was sitting to your left. "Oh my god." she said as she pulled you towards her to have, as she liked to call it, a mini conference. She popped her head up for just a second, directing her attention to the man. "Excuse us a moment..." she said as she pulled you down to speak with you. The man chuckled as he shook his head and returned to reading his emails on his phone.

"Holy. Crap. Do you know who that is?!?!" Bianca said in an aggressive whisper. "Yeah" you responded sounding slightly confused, "he's some doctor who works across the street."  
"Some doctor? SOME DOCTOR?!?!" Bianca's whispers got more and more aggressive with each phrase. "That is not just 'some doctor' that is Dr. Stephen Strange, he's like the best neurosurgeon... EVER! He's so hot and sooooo rich, every girl at the hospital wishes they could be with him."

You looked back over to Stephen who was staring at the two of you with a puzzled look. He gave you a little wave, making you laugh nervously and turn back to your friend.

"Okay so what do you want me to do about it? I can back off and let you have him if you wa..."  
"NO!" she exclaimed, this time actually yelling, causing some people to look at the two of you, including Stephen with a curious look on his face. She blushed and went back to her whispered tone, "No, god no, this man is like... a god, as jealous as I am right now I'm not letting you give him up."

You were relieved at this since you didn't have the intention of ending things with the hot doctor.  
"I hate to interrupt, but is there a problem here?" Stephen interjected pulling the two of you from your conversation.

"No, not at all, I was just letting her know that I was leaving." Bianca said as she got up from her bar stool.

"You're what?? We just got here!" you asked very confusingly looking at her with a look that could kill.

"Yeah you know I have an early shift in the morning and I am just sooo tired." she faked a yawn as she stood between you and the doctor. "You two have fun." and with a wink she started to walk away.

"Um excuse me," you started to follow your terrible friend as she walked towards the door, "how am I supposed to get home?!? You drove me here remember?!?!?" you were starting to get very annoyed with Bianca as she walked away.  
She looked at Stephen and then back to you, "You'll find a way." and with that she was out the door.

You looked back over at Stephen who was chuckling as he took a swig of his beer. "That's quite a friend you got there."

You sat back down next to him signaling the bartender to get another drink, "She really is something..." you said as you sat down and began your night.


	2. Chapter 2

Previously in A Strange Encounter - Chapter 1 "Um excuse me," you started to follow your terrible friend as she walked towards the door, "how am I supposed to get home?!? You drove me here remember?!?!?" you were starting to get very annoyed with Bianca as she walked away.  
She looked at Stephen and then back to you, "You'll find a way." and with that she was out the door.

You looked back over at Stephen who was chuckling as he took a swig of his beer. "That's quite a friend you got there."

You sat back down next to him signaling the bartender to get another drink, "She really is something..." you said as you sat down and began your night.  
\--------------------------------  
“Wait wait wait, hold up a second, you’re really telling me you took a bullet out of a man's brain, who somehow wasn’t even dead? I don’t believe any of this.” you exclaimed leaning back against the bar, “no, I don’t buy it.” You were surprised at yourself for actually staying engaged and interested in this medical story, and the ten that came before. You had never been this engaged in any of Bianca’s stories and you weren’t sure if it was because his stories were more high stakes or because of the fact that you found him to be much more attractive than Bianca.

“Pfft,” Stephen stammered over his words, “I am wounded in your lack of faith in me, I’ll have you know that story is completely true, in fact I have the bullet to prove it if you want to see.” and with that he started digging through his coat pocket.  
“Ew ew ew no, please no,” you said in a panicked laugh as you fumble to stop his hands, “I don’t want to see something that used to be in a mans head.” 

He laughed at you and took his hands out of his pocket, “good because I was totally bluffing.” he said as he laughed at you and the flustered face you still had.

“Hey!” you yelled at him as you playfully punched him in the arm, “if you lied to me about that how am I supposed to trust that all those stories were true.” you asked him, almost challenging him.  
He grabbed his arm jokingly in pain acting as if you really had the power in that tiny punch to hurt him. “Trust me, I never lie sweetheart,” he took a sip of his drink, “except maybe this one time.”

You looked at him with wide eyes, “Okay I'm just gonna pretend you didn’t just call me sweetheart…” you said trailing off your sentence as you looked away laughing nervously.

“Well pardon me but what am I supposed to call you, we’ve been sitting here for over an hour and you still haven’t told me your name.” you chuckled at this remark, realising you never formally introduce yourself to him, but instead of giving up that valuable information you decided to keep the banter going.

“Well, maybe if you weren’t so arrogant and didn’t spend the past two hours talking about yourself you would have gotten to know me.” you said laughing at the hurt look on his face.

“Alrighty then, enough about me let’s get to know…” he motioned his hand at you, “now this is the part where you say your name.” 

You chuckled at him and obliged. “It’s (Y/N).”  
“Ah, (Y/N), just (Y/N)? Like… Adele? Or Aristotle?” he chuckled at his poor attempt to make you laugh.

“Does that joke ever get laughs?” you giggled as you made fun of him.

“You know people at the hospital find me very funny.” he stated trying to save his ego.  
“Well maybe it’s because you’re in a position of power and not actually funny.” you jabbed back at him as you watched him grab his chest as if you had wounded him.

“I am genuinely hurt by that comment, but I can forgive you if you give me your last name.”  
“And what are you going to do with that vital information hmm? Stalk me online?” you asked him as you raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe I will, who’s to say.”

“(Y/L/N), my full name is (Y/N) (Y/L/N), and my middle is (Y/M/N) just in case you were wondering about that one too.” you laughed as he pulled out his phone and typed your name into the search bar. “Oh I’m so sorry to hear that you passed away, should I send flowers?” you laughed as you looked over at his screen to see the obituary of the old woman with the same name as you.  
“Very funny, but you know if you wanted to learn about me, you could just ask me instead of stalking my… what is that my linkedIn page? Wow that is the strangest form of stalking if i’ve ever see one.”

“Well strange is my namesake.” he laughed at his joke once more as he closed the tab and clicked on the link to your instagram. “Ah so I see you used to live in California, and you are… ah of course, an aspiring actress, what a classic story. Small town girl moving to the Big Apple to make her dreams come true, so I’m guessing since you’re an ‘actress’... you work as a waitress?”

You looked at him in shock, not sure if you were more offended by the stereotype he just categorized you into or the fact that he put the word actress in air quotes. “Okay first of all I'm no ‘small town girl’” you stated with air quotes, intending to mock him, “I'm from LA not some little farm town in Central California, also yes I do in fact work at a diner, but it’s not because I can’t make it as an actress, in fact I just got a role in the ensemble of (your favorite B-way show).”

“Ah well maybe if you had posted more on your social media I would have learned this about you.” he smirked at you and you couldn’t help but melt at that look.

“Or maybe you could have just… asked me?” you laughed as you pulled out your phone.

“Oh don’t bother looking me up, you won’t find anything but my wikipedia page, not much of a social media kind of guy.” he pointed out as you started to unlock your phone.

“Oh I'm not, actually I’m calling an uber since it’s almost 1.”

Stephen reached for your hand, putting your phone down on the bar. “No no, I’m not letting you pay for a ride home after your friend so graciously ditched you like that, let me drive you.” there was a stern and protective tone to his voice that you hadn’t heard all night.

“Are you sure about that? You… We’ve been drinking and I don’t want to…” stephen quickly cut you off.

“Oh don’t be silly, I’ve had 2 drinks in the last” he looked down at his watch, “almost 3 hours now, I could to easily perform a craniectomy right now, driving won’t be a problem.”

“Okay I’m not so sure about the whole crani-whatever that thing is under the influence thing, but I’ll trust you with the driving portion.” and with that, the two of you closed your tabs and walked out the door.

Stephen had offered to pay for your drinks for you but you refused, seeing that your roommate had so graciously left you to pay for her drinks as well and not wanting him to have to cover that, you were going to have to have a word with her when you got home.

Stephen walked across the street towards what you were guessing was the hospital and you closely followed behind, assuming his car must be in the parking lot there. As he approached the car you stopped dead in your tracks.

“No way, there is NO WAY this is your car!” you looked excitedly at the sleek black Lamborghini in front of you.

“Excuse me I’m a world famous neurosurgeon, what do you think I’m gonna drive, a Prius?” The two of you laughed at the comment as he unlocked the car and opened your door for you. You had to admit, he was quite the gentleman when he wasn’t being so arrogant and snarky.

\------------------------------

“Woah there slow down there speed racer, I know there’s not that many people on the road but I would like to make it home in one piece tonight.” You said to Stephen in a teasing tone but with real concern behind the statement. You tried to hide the uncomfortable state you were in as he cruised down the open and empty roads.

“Oh come on don’t be a baby, I'm not even going that fast, I’m only going 30 miles over the speed limit, that’s nothing. We can go faster if you wa-”  
“NO!” you screamed. He laughed at you as he shook his head.

“Alright alright, I’ll slow down. You’re a buzzkill you know that?” he quickly looked over at you with a wink before looking back at the road.  
“Well excuse me if I don’t want to end up BACK at the hospital tonight.” you shot back at him. He gave you a look almost as if he were telling you ‘you win’ and the two of you continued the drive home in silence.

\------------------------------

You were relieved when he finally pulled over in front of your apartment, you couldn’t stand another second in that car of death, sure it was nice but you had no intent of dying in it. You were starting to gather your things when Stephen stopped you.

“Now hold on a moment, you’re not leaving right this second are you?” he had a very confused and sad tone as he asked you this.

“Well this is my apartment, and the next logical step would be for me to get out of the car and go.” You replied with a sarcastic tone.

He looked out the window, then down at his hands, and then finally back to you, almost as if he were trying to choose his next words very wisely. “I mean I do only live a couple blocks away from here, the night doesn’t have to end now.”

You were taken aback by the forwardness of his statement but also how unsure he sounded as he spoke. “No offence doctor but I think the logical time to ask me this would have been before we left the bar not after you have arrived in front of my apartment.” you said with a teasing tone, holding back your nervous laughter. “And besides I’m not that kind of girl, atleast not usually.” and with a wink you opened the door.

“Right, yes of course my apologies. Have a nice night (Y/N).” and with that you were out of his car, walking to the front door. You looked back at him as he gave you a nod and drove off.

You recapped the night in your head as you walked up the stairs to the 3rd floor, unable to hold back the biggest smile as you thought about the handsome doctor. As you opened the door to your studio apartment, you saw Bianca sitting on the couch waiting for you with a single light on.  
“Excuse me but I thought you had to leave because of your early morning?” you shot at her with the most sarcastic tone.

She ignored the rudeness in your voice and walked toward you, grabbing your shoulders she had the happiest look on her face as she sat you down on the couch. 

“Tell. Me. Everything.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: okay so we’re in your apartment this chapter and as I was writing I imagined it as the apartment that Rachel and Kurt share in Glee when they are living in New York just in case you wanted to get a visual, but if you want it to look like something else that’s cool too :) also I totally made up Stephen’s age based on some research I did on how old doctors should be once they’ve chosen a specialty, so if you don’t like his age feel free to change it in your head :)

Previously in A Strange Encounter - Ch 2

“Excuse me but I thought you had to leave because of your early morning?” you shot at her with the most sarcastic tone.  
She ignored the rudeness in your voice and walked toward you, grabbing your shoulders she had the happiest look on her face as she sat you down on the couch. “Tell. Me. Everything.”

\------------------------------

Bianca was listening so intently as you recounted the events of the night to her. She couldn’t contain her excitement as she soaked in every detail.

“...yeah and then he dropped me off and now I’m here with you, that’s basically it.” you looked up at your friend who had her mouth hanging open and a shocked look on her face

“What… THAT’S IT!!” you were thrown off by her sudden outburst, expecting her to gush over your story not yell at you.

“What, what did I do wrong?” you were very confused with how she was reacting.

“That’s where you left things?? No kiss goodnight, no going back to his place?? Geeze girl did you even get the man’s number??”

You looked at her with a blank face, shit, you forgot. “Oh my god, no, I totally spaced, what do I do??” you weren’t necessarily starting to panic, but you were pretty torn up at the fact you just spend 3 hours getting to know a successful and not to mention attractive neurosurgeon and you failed to do the one thing necessary to talk to him again.

Bianca could see you were beating yourself up about this and decided to try and cheer you up. “I mean it’s not that bad you can just like, DM him on Instagram,” you shook your head no, “oh okay so no instagram, how about twitter,” you shook your head again, “okay… Facebook? LinkedIn? My space? Girl you got to give me something i'm running out of social media platforms”

“Bianca this man is like a ghost on the internet, he said all he has is a wikipedia page which I found really weird but that’s beside the point. The point is the only way I’m ever gonna contact this man is if I call his assistant or something.”

“OR you can, and hear me out on this one, get a really intense brain tumor that his big ego can’t resist operating on and then BAM you get his number then.” You could tell she was holding back her laughter at the joke she had just made, but you kept a straight somber face.

“Come on (Y/N), it’s not the end of the world. I work at the same hospital as him, I can just find him one day and exchange numbers for you.” Bianca was getting really excited about the task she had given herself.

“Oh my god no that’s too embarrassing, that’d be like my mom trying to set me up with him, I’m not letting you do that.” you were happy that Bianca said she would respect your wishes but you knew she probably would do it anyways and with that it was off to bed.

\------------------------------

The days that followed that night were just like any other, running through your daily routine and trying not to think about how you royally messed up with mister hot doctor, and today was no different. It had been five days now, but you couldn’t let the thoughts about him get you down and cramp your style. First you went to your morning shift at the diner, then to your midday rehearsal, then back to the diner to cover a shift that your friend Susan had begged you to take so she could take her mom to a broadway show, and then back home to rest and get ready for the next day. You didn’t mind having to be a waitress on the side, in fact you were thrilled. The diner was so close to your rehearsal building and it was full of fellow ensemble members from other shows. You had dreamed of this job since you knew it existed, it wasn’t just any old diner, it was Ellen’s Stardust Diner, the famous singing and dancing New York experience. Sure it wasn’t the type of performing you had in mind, but you still got do what you love and soon you would be making your broadway debut.

You were exhausted when you got home and couldn’t wait to relax for your usual Friday night movie night with Bianca. To your surprise the apartment was empty when you got there. You walked over to the kitchen to grab some food when you saw a note taped to the fridge. ‘Had to pick up a night shift tonight, won’t be home till late. Sorry boo - B’. It looked like movie night would have to be a solo thing, so you walked over to the couch, popped in your favorite movie, and sighed in relief as you finally sat down. 

You had been so busy all day that you hadn’t had any time to check your phone. Taking advantage of the fact that Bianca wasn’t there to tell you to get off twitter and pay attention to the movie, you took out your phone and started your social media routine. A little bit of twitter, a little bit of facebook, and then finally to instagram. You were just scrolling through when suddenly you noticed you had one message request. You clicked on the profile only to see they had no pictures, no followers, and no bio, only a username, ‘MisterDoctor55’. 

Your heart started racing as you looked at it, there was no way. Reading the message it said, ‘You know after spending 3 hours getting to know a woman you would think she would offer her number, but please excuse me if I’m wrong.’

You couldn’t believe it and you weren’t yet sure if you should. ‘Stephen is that you?’ you had to ask, just to be sure, even though you knew it had to be him.

‘Oh my apologies, I didn’t realize you leaving handsome doctors in the dust was a hobby of yours, you should really update that on your LinkedIn.’ yup, it was him.

‘What is up with you and LinkedIn.’ you shot back, trying to match his snarkiness.

Stephen started typing, and then he stopped. You waited a good ten minutes for him to form a response. ‘You know I would try to form a good comeback but I’m just too tired from saving lives all day, so why don’t we just exchange phone numbers so I can get off the wretched website.’ 

You laughed at his arrogance as you typed out your number. ‘Here you go, I wouldn’t want you to suffer on this “wretched” website any longer.’ you said making fun of his use of words. You waited for a response but it never came, figuring he would text you again in the morning.

You were very surprised to receive a text 30 minutes later from an unknown number. Your heart started racing again as you fumbled to unlock your phone, but what you saw was anything but what you were expecting. “AT&T Free Msg: More than 75% of your 10 GB of data has been used. If 100% is used, we'll add 1 GB of data for $10. To check your data use, dial *DATA# (*3282#). Or you can go to att.com/ myattapp to manage your account.” your heart sank at this message and you continued on with your movie, it wasn’t until 5 minutes later that you realised something, you had Verison.

“You know Stephen, maybe next time you pull this stunt you should check to make sure what carrier your victim has.” you typed out, laughing at yourself you even though you thought it was real for a moment.

“Okay but you have to admit, it was a pretty clever joke.” You couldn’t believe him, one moment you feel like you’re talking to an old man and then five seconds later you feel like your talking with a teenage boy. 

The two of you talked for a bit, nothing very interesting was said, he did however tease you about your roommate coming to him about you.

“You know, I told her not to do that so it wasn’t my fault.”

“I know she told me, she was however very adamant about me getting in contact with you somehow, and when I gave up the idea of randomly running into you I begrudgingly turned to social media.”

“Yeah what’s the deal with you and social media anyway. Aren’t you like, a millennial?”

“No actually i just missed the mark for that one, I would have to be 37 to make it into that category, and though I admit I am very smart and did graduate early and all that jazz, I’m not THAT young of a world famous doctor.” you were shocked at how easily his arrogance showed.

“Oh okay, sorry old man.”

“Woah woah cool it on the age shaming, I’m 39 not 70.”

You weren’t really shocked by his age, I mean he’s a doctor, there’s no way he could be 25 like you, and besides, you had always said age is just a number, but you had to admit the 14 year age gap was suddenly slightly daunting.

The conversation went on, continuing the back and forth banter you two had going. About an hour later he let you know that he had a surgery earlier in the morning and would have to turn in for the night.

“But I would like to see you again, and soon, are you free tomorrow night?” your heart fluttered at the sight if this text.

“Yes” you kept your answer simple and to the point.

“Okay, well then I will pick you up at 7:30, be sure to look nice, goodnight.” and with that he was gone.

7:30, tomorrow night, look nice. Those words were running through your head and suddenly you couldn’t sleep. You spent almost an hour trying to think of something nice to wear in your head. Would you wear a nice top and slack? You thought about the look, realizing it was too Hilary of you. Next was to browse your dresses. You went through every dress you had in your head trying to figure out the perfect combo to go with. It wasn’t long until you got tired of your overthinking and drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, more is coming soon :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay so the restaurant in this chapter is actually a real place in New York and I recommend looking it up because it’s beautiful and my description can’t capture the beauty.

Previously in A Strange Encounter - Chapter 3

  
7:30, tomorrow night, look nice. Those words were running through your head and suddenly you couldn’t sleep. You spent almost an hour trying to think of something nice to wear in your head. Would you wear a nice top and slack? You thought about the look, realizing it was too Hilary of you. Next was to browse your dresses. You went through every dress you had in your head trying to figure out the perfect combo to go with. It wasn’t long until you got tired of your overthinking and drifted off to sleep.

\------------------------------

You woke up earlier than usual, 30 minutes before your alarm was set to go off. You couldn’t tell if it was because you were so excited to see Stephen tonight or because you were so uncomfortable the way you were sprawled out on the couch. You looked over to Bianca's bed where she was sleeping soundly, a little peeved that she didn’t wake you up when she got home so you could go to your own bed. You brushed it off as you walked over to the bathroom to get ready for what was about to be the longest work day of your life.

You couldn’t concentrate, the whole day was spent thinking about Stephen and the elusive plans, date? You weren’t sure what to call it yet but that didn’t stop you from the excitement. You practically ran home after your rehearsal and jumped straight into the shower, you had an hour and a half to get ready and no time to waste. You checked your phone frequently to see if Stephen would shoot you a text before hand but so far there was nothing. You were starting to get nervous as it got later and he hadn’t texted you, did he remember? Is he going to cancel? You brushed away the thoughts as you picked out an outfit.

Even after almost 30 minutes of thinking about what to wear the night before, it still took you what felt like five years to get ready. You knew you were probably overthinking it, but was it really so bad to want to look your best? You ended up deciding on a navy blue halter bodycon dress that you had bought off some cheap website but looked surprisingly good. You slipped on some black peep toe heels and walked over to the mirror to see how you looked.

You tried a million different hair styles before settling on leaving your hair down, it wasn’t your ideal look but it would have to do. Suddenly you heard your phone buzz, practically sprinting to the other side of the room to see if Stephen had finally texted you.

“I hope you didn’t forget about our little randevu, be there in 30 minutes.”

You squealed as you read the text, hoping that these next 30 minutes would fly by fast, but they didn’t.

You spent your time doing simple tasks, cleaning up around the apartment. You figured it would be a nice distraction and it was also something you had been putting off for a while. As you were cleaning you started imagining what it would be like to have Stephen over. This is when the cleaning turned from leasurly to panicked, realising your apartment was in no shape to have company and the thought of even considering bringing him over after whatever this was tonight was enough to get you into a frenzy.

You were so distracted by the cleaning that you didn’t notice that your phone had buzzed. It wasn’t until five minutes after the missed notification that you heard a knock on the door. You looked up from your current state of being slung over a pile of clothes on Bianca’s side of the room. You yelled out “Just a minute!” as you quickly shoved the clothes under her bed.

You ran over to the door, slightly out of breath, you composed yourself before undoing the lock and opening the door. As you opened the door, what you saw before you was a sight that would make any woman weak. Stephen stood before you, dressed in a slimming black suit and tie with lavender roses in his hand. You stood there speechless until he finally broke the silence.

“Wow, you look stunning.” he said with the biggest smile.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” you replied, of course lying because he looked damn near perfect.

“Yes well, um… I brought you these, I do hope you’re not allergic.” he said with a nervous laugh as he held the roses out to you. You took them with a smile as you walked into the kitchen to grab a vase from under the sink.

“Well this is quite the little apartment you have here,” Stephen called out from the doorway, “are you going to invite me in?” You looked at him with a smile, cheeks red from embarrassment.

“Yes… yes of course my bad.” you said as you walked over to Stephen, putting the flowers onto the table as you passed it by.

You motioned for him to come in as you closed the door. “Well, this is my apartment, not much to see.” you giggled as he looked around. “How did you know my apartment number anyway? Did Bianca tell you?”

“No,” he responded quickly, “actually I was sitting in my car waiting for you when I looked up and saw you through the window, frantically running like a chicken with its head cut off. I figured you looked so flustered and busy that you hadn’t read my text, so I decided to knock, your neighbor buzzed me in.”

You were both surprised and embarrassed at this turn of events, but you decided not to show it and instead poke fun at Stephen.

“Well well we are quite the detective aren’t we?” you asked him sarcastically.

“Please, I am no Sherlock Holmes, I just noticed the obvious. Now, we should get going, we don’t want to be late.” He said this with a wink as he turned to walk out the door.

“And where exactly are we going that we don’t want to be late for?” you were very curious as to where the night would take you.

“Now now, let’s not ruin surprises.” he said as you rolled your eyes, following him out the door and down to his car.

“You know, I’m not going to get in this thing unless you drive the speed limit, are we clear on that?” you were very stern with your tone, as much as you wanted to go on this date, you did not want to die in the process.

“Don’t worry, you have my word.” he said as he opened your door for you before running around to the other side of the car to get in.

\------------------------------

You pulled up to a small restaurant just under the Brooklyn Bridge called the River Cafe. It was beautiful, flowers and trees everywhere, vines growing all around the entrance of the little white building, it looked like something out of a dream. As you walked in with Stephen, you couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the beauty of the restaurant, this was no cheap dining experience and the thought of how much this was about to cost you started to make your stomach churn.

The overwhelming feeling went away as you sat at the table and looked out at the view. You could see the New York City skyline as the sun was setting and lights were coming on, it was breathtaking.

The two of you looked over the menu as you sat together at the table, Stephen seeming completely unfazed by the prices, you on the other hand couldn’t even look at it.

“Um… Stephan.” you whispered leaning in towards him and propping the menu as a makeshift barricade, not wanting to be too loud and have other people in the restaurant hear you.

He looked up from his menu, answering back in a whispered tone to match yours as he leaned in toward you. “Yes (Y/N) what is it?”

“Well um, it’s not a big deal but… uh… these plates are $138… per person…” you felt embarrassed bringing up the price being an issue with you, but you couldn’t help it. You had always tried to save your money wherever you could, and tonight, as nice as this date may be, was no exception.

“Oh please (Y/N),” he said in a caring tone as he leaned up off the table and placed a hand on yours, “don’t worry about the price, tonight's on me.”

You looked at him with a concerned face, “Are you sure? That’s a lot of money and I don’t want y-”

“Please,” he cut you off before you could even finish your sentence, “I want you to enjoy, not worry about the price, it’s nothing for me really.” he said this with a reassuring smile. You felt your body relax at this and once again opened your menu.

\------------------------------

The night went so smoothly and perfectly you would think it was straight out of a movie. The conversations flowed so effortlessly, the two of you talked about where you grew up, your time in school, talking a lot about his time in med school and all the degrees he had and other random little stories that would come up. At the end of the night you felt like you really knew him, he was no longer the strange man you met at the bar but now a friend, and hopefully more than that if things went well.

As the two of you walked out you thanked him for an amazing dinner and night, but he smiled at you and chuckled. “Oh the night isn’t over yet.”

“It’s not?” you were now really confused, what more could there be to do? It was already 10:30 and you were starting to feel a little tired.

“Just get in the car, you’ll see.”

And with that the two of you were off again.

\------------------------------

You laughed as you pulled up to the parking lot. “Really? The bar from last week?”

“What? I thought it would be a romantic gesture, a nice ending to our date.” He said playfully trying to defend himself.

“Ah so it is a date that we’re on.” you said teasingly as the two of you walked up to the door.

“Of course it’s a date, I don’t spend $200 on all of my friends meals.” he teased you as he stopped you just before the door. “I don’t usually kiss them either.”

“Excuse me if I’m mistaken but I don’t thi-” your snarky comment was stopped by the sudden crash of Stephens lips against yours. Yours eyes widened at the sudden action but slowly closed as you relaxed and sank into it. The kiss started off so gentle and then turned to passionate as he slowly put one hand on your back and one supporting your neck, pulling you in closer toward him.

As you broke apart you were speechless. “Well,” you finally said, “shall we go get a drink?” and with that Stephen opened the door for you.

\------------------------------

Your time at the bar was almost better than your time at the restaurant. You weren’t sure if it was the fact that you were having a drink or because of the kiss, but something was enhancing the experience.

You and Stephen spent two hours just telling stories and laughing together and it felt amazing. Just in this night you really got to know who he was and you were liking it. After finishing your drink you looked over at Stephen with a curious look.

“Hey…” you stumbled over your words, “you’ve only had one drink this whole night.” he laughed at you in your drunken state.

“Yeah, that would be because I am in charge of getting you home safely.” he said with the cutest grin you had ever seen. “And I think that time to go home is about right now… Excuse me?” he motioned over the bartender to get the check.

“Wait no no no,” you protested, “let me at least pay for my own drinks.” you said as you fumbled with your purse trying to get the clasp open.

Stephen placed his hand over yours signaling you to stop as you looked up at him. “Please, I’ve got it this time.” and with that he put down his card and a short while after the two of you were off.

Stephen helped you walk to the car as you fumbled in your heels. He helped you into the car, buckled you in, and placed a kiss on your forehead, you couldn’t help but smile like a fool at the gesture. “Alright, let’s get you home.” he said as he got into the driver's seat and started the car.

“Wait no you can’t take me home, Bianca is gonna KILL me if I come home drunk. She hates when I go out drinking without her.”

“I think she’ll understand this once.” Stephen said to you with a very loving tone.

“No she’s gonna be so mad, can I just crash at your place?” you said with the biggest pout. Stephens face looked shocked.

“Yeah okay you can spend the night.” He said as he pulled out of the parking lot and started his drive home. You smiled at him and slowly closed your eyes as you started to fall asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow I am sorry guys I meant to update this earlier but I have been so busy getting back into the swing of school and I kept putting this off :( I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I will have more coming much more frequently I promise.  
> In terms of details for this chapter I tried my best to describe what Stephen's apartment looks like, but if you've seen Doctor Strange I'm sure you already know what it looks like :)

“Wait no you can’t take me home, Bianca is gonna KILL me if I come home drunk. She hates when I go out drinking without her.” 

“I think she’ll understand this once.” Stephen said to you with a very loving tone.

“No she’s gonna be so mad, can I just crash at your place?” Stephens face looked shocked.

“Yeah okay you can spend the night.” He said as he pulled out of the parking lot and started his drive home. You smiled at him and slowly closed your eyes as you started to fall asleep.

\------------------------------

You woke up to Stephen unbuckling your seatbelt, about to lift you up out of the car before he saw your eyes had fluttered open.

“Well good morning, did you have a nice nap?” you smiled at him as you started to close your eyes again, you felt so tired and wanted to fall asleep right there. “Okay let’s get you upstairs before you spend the night in my car.”

Stephen held on to you all the way up to his apartment, you tried to convince him you could make it on your own but he didn’t want to risk you falling or wandering off. You thought it was sweet of him to care about you so much.

When you walked into his apartment your eyes widened at the sight, jaw dropping to the floor as you pulled away from Stephen and walked further in. “This… this is your apartment?”

Stephen laughed at you as he put his keys on the table. “Yeah I know, it’s quite a view isn’t it.” He said, chuckling as you walked straight toward the huge window where the back wall should have been.

You walked around, completely in awe of how spacious and beautiful this place was. In your wandering you found what you assumed was his little mini bar. You were intrigued by the crystal bottles holding who knows what in them. You didn’t even hesitate as you poured yourself a drink, feeling so fancy in the process. You turned around and saw stephen looking down at his phone, staring at him as you slowly sipped your drink. When he looked up at you his face quickly changed from happy to panic as he rushed over to you.

“Oh no no no, we are definitely done with that. How about some water hmm?” he tried to grab the drink from your hand but you turned around, trying to play a game of keep away. The only flaw in your plan was that Stephen was much taller than you, so with a hand looming over your head you felt the glass slip from your hands as your heard Stephen give a relieving sigh.

You looked at him with a pout. “You’re no fun.” but he didn’t seem bothered by your insult. Instead he walked back over to you, placing his hand on your shoulders.

“I think it’s time for you to go to bed.” He put one hand on your back and outstretched the other, motioning you to move, but you didn’t budge. Instead you grabbed his outstretched hand, placing it with his other hand behind your back.

“But does the night really have to end now.” you said with a very suggestive tone. Before Stephen could even respond you pulled down on his tie, bringing him down to your level and kissing him very passionately, pulling him closer to you with every second. It was only a few second before Stephen was able to break free.

“Yes, I’m afraid so, you need to get some rest.” and with that you were on your way to bed.

———————————————

You woke up unsure where you were and with a pounding headache. You looked around the room, trying to remember what could have landed you here but it was no use. You looked over to your left to see a nightstand with a glass of water and some advil, without hesitation you reached for it, tossing back the pills and downing the whole glass.

It wasn’t until you decided to get out of the strange bed that you even noticed you were no longer wearing your dress from the night before. Instead you were in a very oversized band t-shirt that was basically a dress on you, falling all the way down to your knees. You assumed it must have been Stephen’s and then it hit you. You were at Stephen’s apartment. You quickly looked back over to the bed but you didn’t see anyone else in it. You decide to leave the room, your bare feet cold against the dark tile floor.

You made your way into the kitchen where you saw Stephen sitting down at the table reading a newspaper. He was wearing blue jeans, a grey t-shirt, and a dark blue cardigan, and damn did he look good in it. The pitter patter of your bare feet on the tile caught Stephen’s attention as he looked up from his paper and at you. 

“Ah good morning (Y/N), did we sleep well.” You looked at him sheepishly as you stood in the doorway. 

“Um, I didn’t… I mean we didn’t…” you pointed back towards the room.

“Oh no don’t worry, I slept on the couch.” he said as he pointed over to the makeshift bed.

“Oh okay good, and so I’m guessing… I put myself into these clothes?” He nodded and you laughed as you looked over at him and then back down at your feet.

“Well since you’re up, would you like some coffee?” you nodded your head as you walked over to sit at the table beside him, shivering a little at how cold he kept his apartment.

“Oh here you look cold.” Stephen said as he walked over to the couch, grabbing a blanket for you.

You smiled as he wrapped it around your body, the smell of him filling the air around you as you nuzzled into the fuzzy blanket. Stephen walked over to the fridge, standing looking in it before looking back at you.

“Well it appears that there isn’t much to eat here, and I’m not much of a chef, shall we go get breakfast?” Stephen looked down at his watch, “Or at this point lunch?” You looked at him a little confused.

“Shouldn’t you be going to work? I know it’s the weekend but don’t doctors still work weekends?”

“Yeah actually I called in today, I didn’t have any surgeries scheduled and I wasn’t about to leave you here alone.” He smiled at you and the look he was giving you made your heart melt.

“Okay, well if we’re getting breakfast would it be possible to swing by my apartment to get me some more presentable clothing,” you motioned to the shirt you were swimming in, “I love ABBA and all, but I don’t think this is really a going out look.” Stephen laughed at you before responding.

“Yeah of course, but I do think this look is pretty great,” he said with a wink.

———————————————

Stephen drove you back to your apartment to get changed. As you slowly unlocked the door you prayed Bianca was scheduled today. As you opened the door you heard Bianca clear her throat.

“Well well well, look who finally comes home.” She said teasing you.

“I’m so sorry B I didn’t mean to worry you, I got really drunk and I ended up crashing with Stephen.” You said slightly embarrassed as you walked over to get changed.

“Oh honey don’t worry about it, he texted me after your third drink of the night and then again when you got back to his apartment.” You looked up from your dresser and back at Bianca in shock.

“Oh, okay cool, I was really worried you were gonna kill me.”

“Oh I am,” she said with a slightly serious tone, “buuuut I’ll let it slide if you tell me all the details about the night, did you guys, like, ya know…”

“Oh my god no!” You yelled at her as you slipped on some clean clothes from behind the curtain ‘door’ that separates your room. “And I can’t tell you about the night right now, Stephen and I are kinda getting lunch right now, he’s out by the car waiting for me.” You said emerging from behind the makeshift door.

“Actually-“ you heard a voice from the doorway.

“Oh my-“ both you and Bianca were surprised to see Stephen leaning in your doorway laughing at the comment Bianca had made about how the two of you might have spent your night together, “Stephen, I told you to wait in the car.” You said in a very low agitated voice, not actually mad at him though because how could you ever be.

“Well I was going to but I knew I would get bored, plus I wanted to come say hi to Bianca, so… Hello.” He said as he held his hand up and wiggled his fingers in a strange wave.

Bianca laughed at him, “Hey Stephen, thanks for keeping me updated.” 

You shook your head as you walked towards him, “You are the worst at following directions.” You said with a laugh.

Stephen leaned down to give you a quick peck, “Oh come on, this little encounter was fun.” He said, kissing you again.

“Ugh gross, get a room you two.” Bianca yelled at you as she threw the paper that was on the table, hitting Stephen in the arm.

Bianca busted out laughing as you grabbed Stephen and stuck your tongue out at your terrible roommate, “Come on Strange, were obviously not welcome here.” And with that the two of you were off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about doing a time jump, not anything crazy like 5 years, maybe just a few weeks or month, let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so at this point its been like maybe 2 months max that you've been seeing Stephen and things are going great and its all sunshine and rainbows because love is amazing. I apologize that only half the chapter will follow this happy mood and the rest will be sad, but I promise things will get better

Stephen leaned down to give you a quick peck, “Oh come on, this little encounter was fun.” He said, kissing you again.

“Ugh gross, get a room you two.” Bianca yelled at you as she threw the paper that was on the table, hitting Stephen in the arm.

Bianca busted out laughing as you grabbed Stephen and stuck your tongue out at your terrible roommate, “Come on Strange, were obviously not welcome here.” And with that the two of you were off.

———————————————

You woke up in Stephens apartment wrapped up in his warm embrace. You couldn’t help but smile at the fact, everything was perfect. Your life with Stephen was something out of a dream that you never thought you could have. Every week was a new adventure, going out to nice dinners, visiting museums, spontaneous weekend trips to places you had never even known. It was almost too good to be true. He would even come to visit you at work at the diner which you had never expected, cheering you on as you would sing your solos and being the loudest person in there but he didn’t care. As you thought about these things you turned over to face Stephen, studying every inch of his face as you slowly caressed his cheek with your hand. He looked so peaceful laying there so still. You could stare at him all day just admiring how he looked.

Slowly his eyes started to flutter open, catching you looking at him with such deep admiration and love. He smiled and he closed his eyes once again and pulled you closer into him.

“Come on Stephen you gotta get out of bed.” you whispered to him as you kissed him on his cheek. He moaned in response.

“Do we have to, because I would much rather stay here all day.” you smiled at his response, half expecting to get a sarcastic or rude answer. 

“Come oooon, you have that craniotomy on that little boy with seizures and I would feel pretty shity if I was the reason his doctor didn’t show up to operate.” Stephen gave you a fake surprised face.

“Well look at you actually listening to my medical talk, I thought that stuff bored you?” He said with a sarcastic tone.

“Hey not fair I told you I thought it was boring once! You’re not gonna let me live that down are you?”

“Nope.” and with that he kissed your forehead and rolled out of bed. 

You watched as he stood up and stretched, admiring his well toned shirtless body. Stephen noticed you staring and gave you a little wink before walked towards his closet to get dressed.

“Oh” He called out from his walk in closet, peeking his head out from the doorway, “don’t forget, tonight we have that gala that I’m speaking at, so we’ll be leaving at 7:30.”

“Oh shoot, Stephen please don’t kill me but I totally forgot and my friend Sandra asked me to cover her shift, and it ends at 8 so I don’t thi-”

“What no no no you have to go, I can’t go without a date, who am I going to make fun of the gala with?” you could hear the panic in his voice and it was kind of comforting to see how much he actually wanted you there by his side.

“Woah calm down I was just gonna say I don’t think I’ll be able to drive with you and I might be a little late, but I’ll be there.” You got up out of bed and walked over to the closet, opening the draw that Stephen said you could use once you started spending the night more often. You quickly got dressed and looked up over at Stephen who was standing there waiting for you.

“If you wouldn’t mind…” Stephen looked at you holding up his tie with a cute smile.

“You know,” you said as you grabbed the tie from his hands and began tying it, “I’m 99% sure that you know how to tie these yourself, so why am I always doing it for you?”

“Because it’s cute when you do it.” you looked up at him, falling in love with the look he was giving you.

You pulled Stephen down by the tie into a quick kiss before leaving for work.

\------------------------------

You went on with your day as you normally would, floating through the day just waiting for the next time you can see Stephen. Covering Sandra’s shift felt like it took three years, counting down the seconds until you could clock out. When the clock finally hit 8 you rushed to the back to change into your outfit for the gala. You couldn’t contain your excitement as you opened your bag and saw a small blue Tiffany’s box. You laughed to yourself as you slowly picked it up, Stephen must have slipped this in when you weren’t looking. You opened it and your mouth dropped. Inside was a beautiful silver chained bracelet with five emeralds scattered along the chain. You smiled as you put it on, admiring its simple beauty.

You quickly finished getting ready and ran out to the curb to call a cab. You looked down at the sidewalk and were shocked to see the pavement was wet, it must have been raining recently but you didn’t notice while you were working. As you were in the cab you couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit uneasy, but you couldn’t tell why. As you were approaching the venue you felt your phone buzz, you looked down to see it was Stepen.

“Stephen honey relax I’m just pulling up-” you were suddenly cut off by a voice that was not familiar.

“Hi Ms. (Y/L/N) this is doctor Palmer, I need you to come down to the hospital, It’s Stephen.”

———————————————

You burst through the ER doors panicked and soaking wet from the rain that has started up again. You look around to find someone who can help you but everyone seems to be busy. Suddenly you hear a familiar voice.

“(Y/N)? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the gala?” you turn around to see your roomate holding some charts and looking very confused.

“Bianca it’s Stephen, where’s Stephen.” you say over a swell of tears and in a complete panic. You could feel your chest tightening as it became harder and harder to catch your breath.

“Oh my god, I don’t know, but we’re gonna find him okay? Don’t worry everything is going to be okay.” She said as she pulled you into her arms and led you through the elevator doors and up to the ICU.

———————————————

You couldn’t believe it, this morning everything was fine, everything was perfect, you could have never in a million years imagined this could ever happen. You looked over at Stephen with all sorts of tubing coming out of his mouth and arms elevated with some sort of metal contraptions around them. You slowly walked into the room and took a seat at his bedside. For the second time today you studied Stephens face, but this time you looked carefully at all the scars and bruises. You caressed his face, not admiring all his curves and edges but slowly feeling over every scrape, almost hoping that your touch could heal him. You wanted to just lay with him and be held in his hands but you and the doctors knew it would be a long time before that could ever happen.

Stephen woke up 2 hours later, and you woke up to the sound of his heart rate increasing as he struggled to breath over the tubes that were down his throat. You called for a nurse in panic and soon the tubes were out and Stephen was talking. 

“What… what happened, what did they do.” He looked down in disgust at his hands and then up at you. The look he gave of pure hatred was one you had never seen, you almost couldn’t even recognize him.

“Stephen, honey, they did everything they could, they did their best. You spun out in the rain on the way to the gala, it took so long for them to find you, they said that by the time they were operating it was too late to save the nerves, but that you should feel lucky to be alive.” You said as you slowly held back tears, letting one slip out as you reached out to put your hand on his shoulder.

“Lucky? Lucky? I lost my hands, the one thing I need as a surgeon, do you understand that? No of course you don’t because you’re not a doctor, you’re just some silly little waitress with big broadway dreams. You could never possibly understand.” 

You looked at Stephen in shock as you cowered back into the corner of your chair. This was not Stephen, not your Stephen. You didn’t recognize the man in front of you but you knew one thing, you didn’t like what you saw. Trying your hardest to hold back tears and failing miserably, you tried to speak to him again.

“Look I know you’re upset but they said with some physical therapy you should be able to regain some functionality…” you trailed off not wanting to upset him further.

He looked at you staying completely silent and then looked away. You didn’t know what to do, what to say, you felt like a complete stranger to him and you didn’t like it. You tried one more time to get him to talk.

“Stephen, please, I’m here for you just talk to me, tell me what you need me to do.”

“Leave.” He said bluntly still not looking at you.

“W-what?” You couldn’t believe what he had just said.

“Just. Leave.” He said, this time starring you dead in the eye.

The words stung as you hard them roll harshly off his lips. You didn’t know what to do, but there was no way you were going to leave. You couldn’t, not when he was like this. So you got up from your chair and started walking to the door, half expecting him to call after you, but he didn’t. So you kept walking, not to the curb to call a cab, but to the waiting room to wait until he was ready to talk again.  
\------------------------------

It was a few days later when Stephen was finally released from the hospital. You had spent all of your free time outside of work in the hospital waiting room, just hoping that Stephen would want to talk, but he never did. You would have left him there and given up but you just couldn’t bring yourself to it, you had to make sure he got home safely. 

The drive home was painful, Stephen wouldn’t even look at you, you walked with him up to his apartment and helped him get settled before finally speaking.

“Stephen honey I know its bad now but-”

“But? But what?” Stephen rudely interrupted, “there is nothing else to say, things are bad and they will never get better. You should just go.”

“Stephen no please, don’t do this, let me help you.” you said as you went to grab onto his arm.

“Help me? Unless you can fix my hands you are of no use to me.” he said as he pulled his arm away and turned away from you.

You didn’t know what to say, but at this point you were fed up with his attitude and the way he was acting. “Okay now this is the part where you apologize.”

“No, this is the part where you leave.” he said, still not looking at you, instead looking out the window.

“fine, but if I walk out that door I am never coming back” you really hoped that the threat would work, but you knew it wouldn’t change his mind.

Stephen looked over to you with pain and hatred. “Go”

And with that you turned on your heels and walked out the door, head held high to give the illusion of being okay, holding back the swell of tears that you would explode into after you closed the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again thank you all for reading this, I love and appreciate you so much, also I apologize if there are spelling and grammatical mistakes because I suck at both those things


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow wow WOW I am soooo sorry ya’ll I meant to post this like a week ago but every time I open my laptop I get so sidetracked with school work. Anyway I apologize for the delay and I hope you like it.

Previously in A Strange Encounter - chapter 6:

“Help me? Unless you can fix my hands you are of no use to me.” he said as he pulled his arm away and turned away from you.

You didn’t know what to say, but at this point you were fed up with his attitude and the way he was acting. “Okay now this is the part where you apologize.”

“No, this is the part where you leave.” he said, still not looking at you, instead looking out the window.

“fine, but if I walk out that door I am never coming back” you really hoped that the threat would work, but you knew it wouldn’t change his mind.

Stephen looked over to you with pain and hatred. “Go”

And with that you turned on your heels and walked out the door, head held high to give the illusion of being okay, holding back the swell of tears that you would explode into after you closed the door.

——————————

You ran down the stairs as fast as you could. You felt completely, well you didn’t know how to describe how you felt, but it wasn’t good. You burst through the front door of the complex gasping for breath. You didn’t know what to do or where to go, but you couldn’t be in the city any longer. You pulled out your phone with shaking hands about to call your parents, but you hesitated. You calmly put your phone back into your pocket and took a deep breath. You were not about to run home away from your problems, ruining your career and life just because of a stupid man. So you hailed a cab and went home to be comforted by bianca and her large quantities of ice cream.

“You know what, screw him, you don’t need him, if he can’t see he how amazing you are he’s a waste of time.” you giggled at Bianca’s statement as you wiped away a tear and took another bite of (your favorite ice cream flavor).

“I know, but it just hurts so much. This isn’t like my other breakups, I really liked this guy… and I thought he really liked me… but I guess not.” You took another big bite of ice cream, somehow feeling better with every bite.

“Look I think you just need to go out with me, we’ll get some drinks, meet some boys and we can get you a rebound, what do you say?” she was getting really excited about going out with you again. It had been a while since just the two of you got to hang out with Stephen taking up a lot of your free time.

“Yeah I don’t know about that whole getting out there so soon, like we just had a fight, he could still call and things could be okay”

“I know but I just don’t want to see you waiting around for him.”

“I’ll be okay trust me, I’m sure he will call after he gets over it.” Bianca gave you a sympathetic smile as if to tell you not to get your hopes up. But you didn’t listen, you waited, and he never called.

——————————

It took longer than you thought to get over what Steven had said to you, and with him not calling you, you decided to take the fight to him. You had gone back to the hospital a few times to have lunch with Bianca, or rather to see of Stephen had been in lately. You thought that maybe if you ran into him the two of you could talk and work things out, but the meeting never happened. You were holding out hope that maybe he knew you were there and was avoiding you, but you gave up when you overheard two nurses talking about how he had left the country.

“You know I heard from Alice up in Peds. that he left from embarrassment.”

“I heard that too, but also Nick in Neuro said that he left for some experimental treatments.”

“Well either way, he’s gone, and I don’t think he’s coming back any time soon. Could you imagine showing your face here again after your career is ruined? I could never.”

You got up from the table with Bianca and walked away, you couldn’t believe what you had just heard, and you definitely couldn’t listen to those girls talk anymore. You left the hospital and went back to your couch, setting up to spend the rest of your day there to continue your routine of endless movies and icecream.

You eventually got over the heartbreak, it wasn’t easy but just a few months later and you went back to into your daily routine, the one before you met Stephen. At first everything was weird and felt out of place, but eventually it felt normal again. You went back to throwing yourself into work and tried your hardest to keep your mind off of Stephen. Everything was perfect again, at least that’s what you kept telling yourself. You still had the job of your dreams and great friends to support you. You felt happy again for the first time in a long time, but you couldn’t help but still feel a little off. This time it wasn’t because of the emotions though, you felt like you had eyes on you at all times and you didn’t like it. It was like someone was stalking you.

You felt like you were being watched all the time, and not just in public like at the diner or in rehearsals, causing you to be more alert wherever you went. The feeling followed you home too, even with all the blinds closed you still felt like someone, or something, was watching you. You tried to shake the feeling but it was useless, you even tried to talk to Bianca but she told you were being paranoid. You wanted to believe her but you couldn’t.

It was a few days after the uneasiness started that you saw a dark figure in the alleyway right next to the diner on your walk to work. You saw it for a split second out of the corner of your eye but when you turned back it was gone. You wanted to leave it alone but you couldn’t help yourself and went down the alley. As you went deeper into the alley, you realised how dumb your idea was, it was dark and as soon as you started walking down you started regretting it. You went to turn around and go back when you saw the dark figure, but this one looked different. It slowly came toward you and you began to back away. Suddenly you stopped, but not because you wanted to, you had hit something. You turned around to see a man in a skee mask looming over you. The other figure came over to you and you saw it was another man.

“Well what’s a pretty lady like you doing all alone.” You froze at the comment, the sound of his voice making your skin crawl.

You felt one of the men put his hands on your arms and you tensed up.

“Please, just let me go, I don’t have any money on me I don’t even have a purse-” one of the men cut you off by putting his hand on your mouth while the other grabbed your hand.

“Well that’s one pretty bracelet you got there.” you looked down at the bracelet that Stephen had given you.

“Please-” you managed to scream out. The men grabbed you as you struggled to break free. You wanted to scream but they had gagged your mouth at this point and began tying your hands back. This was your worst nightmare, it was impossible to believe this was happening, you wanted anything but to be there. You were about to give up on fighting them when you saw a strange orange light, or was it a spark? All of a sudden the men were off of you and were being attacked by the orange light and whoever was wielding it. You couldn’t believe your eyes as you saw the two men run off. You looked back to where the light was coming from but it was gone. You looked around one more time before running past the diner and to the police station.

——————————

“So you’re saying that two men attacked you, but they ran off when they were beat up by a man with lightsaber?” The policeman sounded very uninterested in your statement and was starting to show it with his condescending tone.

“No it’s not a lightsaber, there was this weird orange light and this man was using to-” you were trying to explain further when he rudely cut you off.

“Look lady I don’t have time for these games, I got better things to do than listen to whatever it is happened to you.”

“I was attacked okay! Are you going to help me or not!” you were starting to get annoyed with the officer in front of you.

“Did they take anything?” you looked down at your wrist and saw the bracelet was gone. Your heart sank.

“Yes, They took my Tiffany bracelet, it was priceless” you could feel tears welling up in your eyes.

“Alright and can you tell me what they looked like.” you tried to rack your brain but you couldn’t make out any of their facial features.

“They were wearing masks I couldn’t see their faces, and I was in too much of a panic to remember anything about them.”

“Well then there’s nothing I can do for you then, may I advise you next time not to go down dark allies alone?” The officer gave you a condescending smile before returning to his computer screen.

You looked at him in shock before turning on your heels and walking out the door.

You were paranoid the whole walk back to the diner. Not only had you just been attacked but you still felt like you were being watched. You sheepishly went up to your boss after clocking in to explain to her why you had been 30 minutes late. Surprisingly she pulled you into a hug and comforted you, telling you to take the night off and get some food and rest in the breakroom, telling you she would get one of the guys on shift to escort you home. You felt so relieved by this and made your way to the breakroom. You went to go change into you extra clothes that you kept in case of work spills, you felt so uncomfortable in the ones you were wearing now. When you opened up your locker you stood there stunned, reaching in and pulling out the bracelet that Stephen had given you. Underneath it was a note, ‘Try to keep out of danger darling - S.S.’

You just stood there not knowing what to do, you couldn’t make sense of it, all you could manage to do was murmur one word. “Stephen?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again thank you for reading! let me know if you would like to be tagged or have any ideas of where you want to see the story is going

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading :) feel free to comment and tell me what you think :)


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